apocalypse please
by fall from stars
Summary: CHALLENGE—Declare this an emergency. Come on, let’s spread a sense of urgency. [AxelxNaminé] [LJ community 1sentence challenge] [Theme set: Gamma]


**A/N: **Right, so. I'm not entirely sure if this is okay for me to do or not. I yoinked the Gamma set from the 1sentence community on LJ and was all ready to go until I learned someone else snatched up Axel/Naminé, the pairing that keeps on coming back to me. So I went ahead and did it myself anyway. Yeah.

If it turns out I broke a rule or something, I'll take it down, promise. Title from Muse's "Apocalypse Please," which is a lovely depressing little song about the end of the world and the need for miracles—suits these two, if you ask me.

So, right. To the sentences. Enjoy, and remember, con crit makes me smile!

**Apocalypse Please**

**Ring  
**He says it's for her birthday, but she only puts it on her finger, stares at him with big blue eyes and says, "You know we don't have birthdays."

**Hero  
**He knows that she's not lying when she says Sora's not her hero, and that he is.

**Memory  
**One day she asks what his first memory is, but since she's drawing and not looking directly at him, he doesn't trust her and says nothing.

**Box  
**She's a good little girl and a good little prisoner, and when Marluxia tells her he's boxing her away from the world, Axel wonders why she doesn't fight back.

**Run  
**She's too weak to pick up a weapon worth anything, so Axel's stuck teaching her how to run from the darkness.

**Hurricane  
**Against her better judgment she watches him fight, a hurricane of sharp fire, and when he comes back to her she can't bear to even look at him.

**Wings  
**They both dream of the same thing—of growing wings and being able to fly away from Castle Oblivion.

**Cold  
**Her white room is always so cold and he's always so warm, so she comes to depend on his heat to help her survive.

**Red  
**Axel has bright green eyes and even brighter red hair, hair that burns like a fire she's almost too afraid too touch.

**Drink  
**The absinthe is green like Axel's eyes, dark and swirling and hard to trust, but she takes a gulp because she always does what he wants.

**Midnight  
**"Meet me on the twelfth floor at midnight; don't be seen; that's an _order_," he snaps at her, and it's not a dare so much as a test of her loyalty to him.

**Temptation  
**What Axel doesn't know is that he's a temptation to Naminé, enticing her to break every rule alongside with him.

**View  
**He wants to show her the view underneath the heart-shaped moon, but she's content with her familiar white walls.

**Music  
**Demyx is so happy when Naminé decides she wants to take singing lessons; Axel watches from the shadows, proud of _his_ pretty little witch.

**Silk  
**She says she never imagined anything could be so soft, and Axel says, "You have a lot to learn about the worlds."

**Cover  
**She is shivering from cold and so he throws his cloak over her, the black cloth covering her from the rest of the Castle.

**Promise  
**"Promise me you'll never die," she whispers one day, her dress askew and her eyes focused on him, and his only response is an uncommitted laugh.

**Dream  
**She discovers one night that she only dreams about him, but she doesn't know if this is a good or a bad thing.

**Candle  
**She thinks the burning white candle he gives her is a sign—_you'll kill me_, she says, _you're going to burn me alive_—but he can't lie about things like this, and he lets her cry.

**Talent  
**"I know it's terrible, but I'm no good at anything else," Naminé says one day, more to herself than to him. **  
**

**Silence  
**She hears Marluxia and Larxene discussing whether or not Axel is loyal to their cause, and when she tries to speak up for Axel, Marluxia hisses at her: "Silence is a _virtue_, Naminé."

**Journey  
**All she knows is that Xemnas has sent him on a mission, a journey of sorts, and all she knows is that she already wants Axel back.

**Fire  
**She's drawing him and has a difficult time with the fire surrounding his body; he only laughs, says she didn't even have to do that, and gives her a kiss on the forehead.

**Strength  
**Axel's strength is external, lashing and hot and painful; Naminé's is internal, lets her take so much in and never lash out.

**Mask  
**Axel hides behind a mask of sly words and backstabbing; Naminé crouches behind a mask of perfect, white, unmarred innocence.

**Ice  
**He tells her to keep away from Vexen, but Naminé still visits the icy academic to check up on her replica, her backup knight in shining armor.

**Fall  
**Sora falls through her dreams and soon out of her mind altogether; every thought of hers is consumed by Axel.

**Forgotten  
**He decides it would be fun to discover her biggest fear, so he asks and asks until she finally breaks down and says, "I'm so scared that I'll be forgotten."

**Dance  
**Maybe Demyx is the one who teaches Naminé to sing, but Axel's the one who teaches her to dance.

**Body  
**Their bodies come together, soft and sharp, pale and paler still, sweating and rolling with bright-eyed fevers.

**Sacred  
**He desecrates the church in the picturesque French village by the Beast's castle, and teaches her how to wear a sacred cross upside-down.

**Farewells  
**She says goodbye to him and he takes pride in correcting her: "You never say goodbye unless you want someone to die; you say goodnight, and hope you see them in the morning."

**World  
**She is forbidden to leave the Castle and so he brings the worlds to her, and she hangs them alongside her paper dreams.

**Formal  
**Axel sees the way Marluxia treats her, makes her curtsy to him like he's the Queen of Hearts, and he says to her with a wink, "I don't want you to be so formal around me."

**Fever  
**Even being around Axel gives Naminé a fever; she is just too delicate to stay with him for long.

**Laugh  
**He's almost an expert in laughing, but when he gives her lessons, the most he can coax from her throat is a tiny, fake little ring: nothing like he imagined at all.

**Lies  
**"You can just lie to Marluxia, make something up," he says casually, because lies have never gotten him into trouble—yet.

**Forever  
**"None of us live forever," he says quietly while Naminé looks at how the battle injured her replica, her knight in shining armor, and Axel, unneeded, leaves Naminé to mourn.

**Overwhelmed  
**He comes in overwhelmed from the backstabbing game he's playing, and when Naminé reaches for him, he shoves her off; he doesn't need her right now.

**Whisper  
**He comes back from a battle barely alive; he whispers two words to her: "Apocalypse, please," and she watches his eyes roll into his head.

**Wait  
**She is so desperate for his warmth again, and she begs him to wait, but he can't afford to be seen with her in the open and he just walks away.

**Talk  
**"Didn't know you could even talk, Naminé," Axel says, impressed, but she's too busy admiring how he knew her name to even say "thank you."

**Search  
**"We're always searching," he tells her offhandedly, "for those hearts—because we're going to die if we don't get them."

**Hope**

"I hope you get your heart back, Axel," she says quietly, and Axel can't even tell her that if he lost his heart, he doesn't deserve it back.

**Eclipse  
**She upsets Marluxia when her pencils fall, shatter to the ground, and when the scythe comes swinging down, Axel eclipses her, takes the pain for her.

**Gravity  
**Axel knows how to bounce back when gravity pushes down on him, and Namine wonders how he learned to do it, in her squashed-down corner.

**Highway  
**He remembers stupid lyrics, ones he mocked from his first life: _Life is a highway, and I'm gonna ride it all night long_; he thinks it's the worst advice he's ever given Naminé.

**Unknown  
**For once, he's grateful that she's afraid of anything unknown; it helps her bend to his will so easily.

**Lock  
**"Locks don't keep anything safe," he says to her one day, "because someday that little Keybearer punk's going to find it and unlock it and then—someone else's gonna know all your secrets."

**Breathe**

He tells her it's completely unnecessary and she doesn't have to do it, but she says she's practicing for the day she finds her heart.

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End file.
